“What were the words?” I whisper. “The ones that I don't give to you.”
She stares at me like I've grown a second head.
“Let me hear it,” I rasp. “Let me hear what you want from me.”
She doesn’t answer, so I kneel. Back pressed to the wall, like a penitent beast, palms splayed against the floor to keep myself grounded.
“I’ll speak it in whatever language you want,” I urge. “If it means I get to be the one you fall for next time.”
Her breath stutters. The honey in her eyes turns to shadow as her pupils expand, leaving only a thin, shimmering ring of gold around the darkness.
“Let me fix what he stole from us,” my voice is unsteady. “Let me make you forget his words ever existed."
She still doesn’t speak.
My eyes don’t leave hers as I move forward on all fours, one hand following the other, across the floor. The weathered planks are a frozen wasteland between us, rime crystallizing beneath my hands with every inch I gain. I am a creature of the cold, dragging my frost toward the only heat I’ve ever known.
I stay low, a predator offering his throat.
Her chest rises and falls faster. I can scent the shift—fear giving way to something else.
“Saelûn,” I plead. “Tell me to stop and I will.” Her pulse pounds in my ears like it’s my own.
I reach the edge of the tub. My claws curl over the porcelain rim, careful not to scrape.I will not startle her again.
Her thighs press together beneath the water. Her arms still wrapped tightly around herself, but her eyes?—
Thalûn, her eyes areburning.
“Do you want me to talk the way he did?” I ask quietly, holding her gaze. “You want me to use those words? The crude ones that made you come so hard it woke me from my sleep?”
Her lips part. She inhales sharply.
I lean closer. “I’ll give them to you thal’morin. I’ll give you whatever you want.”
Her arms twitch.
“Every filthy word you want to hear is yours. But when you come—when you fall apart—it’ll be my voice you hear.Not his!”
I drag one claw lightly along the outside of the tub—a whisper of sound.
“So tell me, Lumi.” I tilt my head, watching her like prey I’m about to devour. “What do you want me to say?”
She blinks rapidly, but no sound escapes her.
“If you’re not going to tell me, I’m just going to have to guess.”
Her eyes widen slightly.
“Andrik, you don’t need to do this,” she whispers.
“If you don’t want this... then why do you smell likethat?”
“It’s not something I can control.”
“Mmm... Do you want me to stop, Lumi?” I ask.
She bites her bottom lip as she meets my eyes. She shakes her head.
